Value-Based Payment Modifier for Physicians

Mandated by the Affordable Care Act,
the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin to apply a value
modifier under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule in 2015. Payment adjustments
will be calculated by cost and quality data for physicians in groups of 100 or
more eligible professionals who submit claims to Medicare under a single tax
identification number. By 2017, all physicians who participate in
fee-for-service Medicare will be impacted by the value modifier based off PQRS
quality data.

IDSA and other physician groups
believe that the performance data underpinning the physician feedback reports
and the Value-Based Payment Modifier must be based on clinically valid and
risk-adjusted measures that attribute care to the appropriate physicians. The
Society's concerns with the Value-Based Payment modifier and Physician Feedback
Program can be viewed in the Physicians Fee Schedule Proposed Rule (PDF) and Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule (PDF) comment
letters.